Fibromyalgia Resource: The word fibromyalgia was first introduced in 1976. Fibromyalgia is derived from the Latin roots "fibro" (fibrous tissue), "my" (muscles), "al" (pain), and "gia" (condition of). Fibromyalgia was known most commonly by the misnomer fibrositis, the "itis" implying an inflammatory component.Patients with fibromyalgia generally must suffer thru seeing many physicians before receiving a correct diagnosis. Patients have reported seeking medical advice for more than 5 years before a correct diagnosis was made.Other reports have said over 50% of patients are misdiagnosed and undergo unnecessary surgery. For decades, fibromyalgia patients have struggled in silence, as much of the medical world turned a blind eye to their plight. It was less than twenty-five years ago that modern medicine officially recognized fibromyalgia as a clinical diagnosis. People have suffered from it for much longer. Hippocrates first described a similar set of symptoms in 400 BC. Not until 1816 did the British surgeon William Balfour once again make note of the condition. In 1904, the British physician Sir William Gowers classified this set of symptoms as fibrositis, now known as fibromyalgia, indicating a medical condition that stemmed from inflammation of the muscles. Fibromyalgia was considered "arthritis of the muscles" and classified with other rheumatological conditions involving pain in the muscles or joints. (Rheumatological conditions are a set of diseases generally involving inflammation of joints or other tissues, such as gout or rheumatoid arthritis.) Early research did indicate slight abnormalities in the muscles of fibromyalgia patients, but these theories were later disproved. Once it became clear that there was no inflammation in the muscles, there was no longer any logical explanation as to why fibromyalgia caused pain. As early as 1981, the fibromyalgia research pioneer Dr. Muhammad Yunnus conducted clinical studies of patients with fibromyalgia and identified a wider range of symptoms than the muscle pain that commonly occurred in these patients. He was one of the first researchers to understand that the symptoms these patients experienced were not only real but somehow interconnected. He called for physicians to base a fibromyalgia diagnosis on its own characteristic features rather than on the absence of another recognizable condition. Sadly, this advice fell on deaf ears, and fibromyalgia continued to be thought of as the diagnosis doctors used when they failed to find another problem. In many cases, this is still true today. Fibromyalgia, becoming all too common, is a syndrome composed of a specific set of signs and symptoms. For too long fibromyalgia has been considered a "wastebasket" diagnosis, but finally, in 1987,the American Medical Association (AMA) acknowledged fibromyalgia as a true illness and a potential cause of disability.Fibromyalgia is recognized as a legitimate clinical entity by many well-respected organizations, National Institutes of Health (NIH),and the World Health Organization (WHO) (Starlanyl, 1996). Eventually, the population of fibromyalgia patients became too big to simply ignore. The American College of Rheumatology (ACR) followed suit in 1990, establishing much-needed "official" diagnostic criteria. If you do not have a primary doctor who is compassionate and knowledgeable about fibromyalgia, you will need to find a fibromyalgia specialist. Unfortunately, finding a physician versed in fibromyalgia is not always easy. Many a doctor or physician has difficulty diagnosing fibromyalgia and some do not even know that the illness exists. Fibromyalgia doctor and specialist health care providers are found scattered across several different disciplines. Rheumatologists, physiatrists and pain specialists are the physicians who most commonly specialize in treating fibromyalgia. Other fibromyalgia specialists may be internists, anesthesiologists, neurologists. Below are two good resources for finding a fibromyalgia doctor, physician or specialist; WebMD has physician finder by specialty and region at: http://my.webmd.com/find_a_phys/doctor The American College of Rheumatology has regional listings of all its physician members at: http://www.rheumatology.org/directory/geo.asp American Medical Association (AMA) Department of Physician Data Services 515 N. State Street Chicago, IL 60616 Website: www.ama-assn.org Through the AMA you can find out about a doctor’s educational background and areas of medical specialty and whether or not the doctor is a member of the AMA. You can also check the American Medical Association Medical Directory at your local public library or bookstore. American Board of Medical Specialties 47 Perimeter Center East, Suite 350 Atlanta, GA 30346 800/776-2378 Website: http://certifieddoctor.org/ This organization will tell you whether a doctor is board certified or board eligible in a particular area. “Board certified” means the doctor has completed two additional years of training and passed a national examination. “Board eligible” means that the training, but not the test, has been completed.